The White House Opens Its Cybersecurity Center

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cut the ribbon on the new state-of-the-art unified command center. The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) is located in Arlington, Virginia.

The NCCIC combines two pre-existing Homeland Security organizations: the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), and the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC), as well as the National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC).

US-CERT is a partnership between public an private organizations aimed to protect cyber infrastructure. The NCC is the operational arm of the National Communications System. Finally, the NSCS among the six largest federal cyber centers.

While most agree the U.S. needs to be prepared for a cyber attack, recent pending legislation has created concern over how much the control the government might have in the event of an emergency. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009, some say, might give the President the ability to "disconnect" the Internet, if necessary, although many experts believe that assertion is overblown.

By cutting the ribbon on Friday, the DHS managed to get the new NCCIC running at the very end of October. That is most significant because October marked the sixth annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

While U.S. cybersecurity should be addressed at governmental level, it also needs to be addressed on a corporate, and personal level, as well. With the launch of Microsoft's new, and free, Security Essentials software, there is no reason that every PC shouldn't be protected.

Of course, MSE only protects validly licensed Windows computers. However, pirates have other alternatives they can turn to, which are also free, such as Avast, AVG, and more. While cyber attacks are something the U.S. is concerned about, many can be executed through the use of botnets, populated by infected computers belonging to John and Jane Q. Public.